5 Most Read Reviews of 2014

Happy New Year! I want to take a moment to thank all of my readers for an incredibly successful 2014. What started as an on-again-off-again hobby three years ago has turned into something truly special, and it is all thanks to you. I promise to continue delivering the content you are looking for in 2015, but before we turn the page on 2014, I wanted to take a moment to look back.

It’s really no surprise that the most-viewed blog of 2014 was Berks County’s most (in)famous restaurant. I visited Maniaci’s Italian Bistro in April, one year after it appeared on an episode of Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible. What I didn’t know at the time was that Maniaci’s was just weeks away from closing its doors for good.

This year, Berks County Eats took six road trips to restaurants outside of Berks County. One of those was Franz’s Tavern, a hole-in-the-wall joint in Lebanon County that serves scratch-made pastas and cooked-to-order dinners.

Mom Chaffe’s Cellarette is one of the longest tenured restaurants in Berks County, serving customers in West Reading since 1936. A combination of homemade Italian dishes and a unique atmosphere have drawn customers to the basement-turned-restaurant for nearly 80 years.

The first restaurant we visited in 2014, The Tomcat Cafe was also one of our most popular blogs. The Sinking Spring spot serves only breakfast foods, but with 56 topping combinations just for their pancakes, The Tomcat Cafe is anything but boring.

Coastal Grille was highly anticipated before its debut in 2014. Owned by the same group as Austin’s Restaurant and Bar, the Coastal Grille took over the former Seafood Shanty building in Broadcasting Square, serving a menu filled with surf and turf favorties.